Welsh landlords want fund to help homes go green

The umbrella body for Welsh housing associations says the fund would encourage banks to finance housing association retrofit programmes and would provide an alternative to the rent-a-roof schemes, in which landlords let roof space to energy companies but forfeit the feed-in tarriff.

CHC, which represents more than 70 landlords across Wales, estimates that it would cost £90,000 to set up the fund, which it hopes would come from the Welsh Assembly Government.

The money would be used to guarantee an as yet undecided percentage of an association’s bank loan, meaning it would not have to borrow against its assets. This would leave associations free to use their assets to raise money for other programmes such as development.

The FIT scheme pays homeowners and landlords which install renewable technology such as photovoltaic panels or wind turbines on their properties for any surplus energy generated which is then sold back to the national grid.

Housing associations can earn 43p for every kilowatt hour of energy produced from a photovoltaic panel on a retrofitted home for a period of 25 years.

Under the CHC scheme, landlords would repay the FIT generated on their properties into the fund, which CHC estimates would be in profit by the second year of operation. By expanding the scheme to 3,000 photovoltaic panels, CHC says the fund would grow by £1.6 million annually by year three.

CHC confirmed it had approached the Welsh Assembly Government about the possibility of it funding a feasibility study into the scheme.
Keith Edwards, director of the Chartered Institute of Housing in Wales, said: ‘I think it’s another example of the housing sector spearheading regeneration, particularly focusing on the green economy and green skills.’

In December, 17,000-home housing association Radian announced the formation of a £5 million revolving fund to retrofit more than 62,000 homes in the south east of England by 2050.